Hogs and Bells

Mr. B has a job that requires travel occasionally. It’s only about six times a year, so we don’t have it bad. BUT when you have a partner gone, days feel weeks and weeks feel like months. This summer Mr. B’s college roommate got married in Bentonville, Arkansas. It just so happens Mr. B has a client in Bentonville, Arkansas. This magical thing happened where we were able to take a short family trip, visit friends, and include a work trip all at once.

One thing our family tries to do when possible is rent a house versus staying in a hotel. These days you can get a house for just a little more than a hotel, but you don’t have to deal with the hotel sounds all night. Plus as a foodie, I love being able to have a kitchen to cook. More importantly, you can usually get some kind of yard where The Energizer Bunny Little B can keep going and going and going. We find this adorable historic home just blocks away from downtown Bentonville.

While Mr. B worked Little B and I took in some sights around Bentonville. The Scott Family Amazeum was the perfect place to take the kiddo for some activity. The best part though are these magical words…you can touch. I’m blessed with a child that loves all input (although when I’m on the 10,000th question of the day it feels like a curse) and will enjoy any museum he goes to, but this museum was definitely well worth the visit!

We decided to stick with the museum theme and headed on over to the Walmart Museum…because it’s Bentonville people…of course we have to do something Walmart related!

The museum had some interesting facts. The highlights for us were the wall of returns and Sam Walton’s classic pickup truck. Attached to the museum is also the Walmart 5&10, which had some fun and nostalgic items to buy. Also next to the museum (and where you’ll be dumped out into as you go through the museum) is the Spark Cafe Soda Fountain. We stopped and grabbed a scoop of ice cream; spark cream to be exact (ice cream in Walmart’s signature colors).

We picked Mr. B up from work and headed back to our adorable home and enjoyed some family time.

I had read that Fayetville has one of the country’s best farmers market. When we woke up Saturday morning, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. The market didn’t disappoint. Local chefs do a cooking demonstration, using local ingredients from vendors at the market. We happened to be there on a day when pork was the ingredient and the vendor had their pork chops for sale at a discount. We grabbed some pork chops, breakfast sausage, and lamb brats from them. Little B found some fresh blueberries he wanted and a wooden spoon that had been handmade (with a demonstrator that was happy to show him how). We enjoyed some musicians (Little B shook it like a Polaroid picture) and then headed out to eat lunch.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant called Tusk & Trotter. We shared a basket of housemade pork rinds and I had a Crispy Pig Ear Salad…and yes, it had fried pig ear on it….and no, it doesn’t gross me out. I’m from the south y’all. We eat calf and lamb fries (hint: they’re round). If I’ll purposely order that fried animal part, I’m not batting an eye at a fried ear.

After dinner it was time to primp for the wedding. Well, I primped…the boys just napped and watched TV. It’s really not fair. We had a great time catching up with friends and it was so great to see Mr. B back with his college roommates. I always love a wedding ceremony. Little B’s reaction however, was a very loud eeeeeeww when they kissed.

There is certainly more to do in the area and I’m actually looking forward to Mr. B’s next work trip so we can tag along! We headed home the next day feeling so thankful that we got to mix business and pleasure.